Cliff Clavin 101. via Mental Floss
Dr. Ruth was trained as a sniper by the Israel Defense Forces.
1. In 1943, Philip Morris ran an ad acknowledging “smokers’ cough.” They claimed it was caused by smoking brands other than Philip Morris.
2. In the 1970s, Mattel sold a doll called “Growing Up Skipper.” Her breasts grew when her arm was turned.
3. Michael Jackson’s 1988 autobiography Moonwalk was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
4. Kit Kat flavors available in Japan include wine, sweet potato, wasabi, and soy sauce.
5. Only female mosquitoes will bite you.
6. At the 2010 Grammy Awards, Taylor Swift won more Grammys (4) than Elvis did his entire career (3).
7. At Fatburger, you can order a “Hypocrite”—a veggie burger topped with crispy strips of bacon.
8. Dr. Ruth was trained as a sniper by the Israeli military.
9. In 1999, Furbies were banned from the National Security Agency’s Maryland headquarters because it was feared the toys might repeat national security secrets.
10. Before a 1993 playoff game, an Illinois high school football coach faked being shot in a bizarre attempt to motivate his team.
11. Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for voting in the 1872 election. She voted for Ulysses S. Grant. She never paid the fine.
12. Kool-Aid was originally marketed as “Fruit Smack.”
13. In 2008, The Little Tikes Company sold 457,000 Cozy Coupes, making it the best-selling car in America.
14. Matthew McConaughey, Cheryl Hines and Daniel Dae Kim all appeared in reenactments on episodes of Unsolved Mysteries.
15. The archerfish knocks its insect prey out of over-hanging branches with a stream of spit.
16. When Woodrow Wilson married Edith Galt, the real Chef Boyardee (Hector Boiardi) catered the event.
17. There really was a Captain Morgan. He was a Welsh pirate who later became the lieutenant governor of Jamaica.
18. The 3 Musketeers bar was originally split into three pieces with three different flavors: vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. When the other flavors became harder to come by during WWII, Mars decided to go all chocolate.
19. Bear Bryant was once asked to contribute $10 to help pay for a sportswriter’s funeral. According to legend, he said, “Here’s a twenty, bury two.”
20. In 1980, C-3PO and R2-D2 visited Sesame Street. They played games, sang songs, and R2-D2 fell in love with a fire hydrant.
21. Dr. Thomas Harvey removed Einstein’s brain during his autopsy. For 30 years, Harvey kept it in two mason jars in his Wichita home.
22. In 1961, Martha Stewart was selected as one of Glamour magazine’s “Ten Best-Dressed College Girls.”
23. An Oscar Statuette (8.5 pounds) weighs more than a Vince Lombardi Trophy (about 7 pounds).
24. As part of David Hasselhoff’s divorce settlement, he kept possession of the nickname “Hoff” and the catchphrase “Don’t Hassle the Hoff.”
25. “Jay” used to be slang for “foolish person.” So when a pedestrian ignored street signs, he was referred to as a “jaywalker.”
26. On the 2001 New Zealand census, 53,715 people listed their religion as “Jedi.”
27. The string on boxes of animal crackers was originally placed there so the container could be hung from a Christmas tree.
28. When Milton Bradley introduced Twister in 1966, critics denounced the game as “sex in a box.”
29. Green bean casserole dates back to 1955, when a chef named Dorcas Reilly created it for a cookbook designed to promote Campbell’s products.
30. Carly Simon’s dad is the “Simon” of Simon and Schuster. He co-founded the company.
31. M&M’s actually stands for “Mars & Murrie’s,” the candy’s founders—Forrest Mars Sr. & William F. R. Murrie.
32. Alaska is the only state that can be typed on one row of keys. (Go ahead and try typing the other 49 states. We’ll wait.)
33. While they were in the White House, John & Abigail Adams had dogs named Satan & Juno.
34. Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue” was penned by Shel Silverstein, the beloved children’s book author who wrote Where the Sidewalk Ends.
35. There’s no better school nickname than the Arkansas School for the Deaf Leopards.
36. Why did the FBI call Ted Kaczynski “The Unabomber”? Because his early mail bombs were sent to universities (UN) & airlines (A).
37. That thing you use to dot your lowercase “i” is called a tittle.
38. There was a long-lost fourth member of the Snap/Crackle/Pop gang. “Pow” represented Rice Krispies’ explosive nutritional value.
39. In the 1930s, Admiral Byrd brought 2½ tons of NECCO Wafers to the South Pole for his men during their two-year stay.
40. The only number whose letters are in alphabetical order is 40 (f-o-r-t-y).
41. The prolific Alan Thicke wrote the theme songs to The Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes.
42. According to Crayola, the average kid wears out about 730 crayons by his or her 10th birthday.
43. Male students at Brigham Young University need a doctor’s note to grow a beard.
44. In 1991, Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse, married Russi Taylor—the voice of Minnie.
45. The sum of all the numbers on a roulette wheel is 666.
46. The Vatican Bank is the world’s only bank that allows ATM users to perform transactions in Latin.
47. Utah’s State Bird is the California Seagull.
48. After leaving office, Ronald Reagan was offered a role in Back to the Future III. (He declined.)
49. The Comic Book Guy on The Simpsons has a name—it’s Jeff Albertson. But that wasn’t the decision of creator Matt Groening. “I was out of the room when [the writers] named him,” he told MTV in 2007. “In my mind, ‘Louis Lane’ was his name, and he was obsessed and tormented by Lois Lane.”
50. The Procrastinators’ Club of America newsletter is called “Last Month’s Newsletter.”
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